The Books for Birmingham Project, March 20, 2014 Title “Miles of Books for Miles!” Date March 20, 2014 Location Valley Library, Oregon State University. Summary In the interview, Rader and Olson convey their memories of campus life at OSU, including their favorite professors and their recollections of the Kerr Library. They then participate in a detailed discussion of the Books for Birmingham project, including its genesis, campus support for the project, and the visit to the OSU campus of Miles College President Dr. Lucius Pitts. Rader and Olson also relay their recollections of the trip to deliver 14,000 books to the Miles College library, the warm reception that they received upon arrival, and their sense of the African American community in Birmingham during their stay. The remainder of the session focuses on subsequent activism in which Rader and Olson engaged. Topics include their involvement supporting voter registration and the Voter Rights Act; engagement with US-China friendship groups and anti-Vietnam War groups; and advocacy of Native American rights, peace in Central America and the womens movement. Olson also shares his memories of working with Students for a Democratic Society, both on the OSU campus and on the national stage, particularly during periods of mid-1960s unrest in Chicago and elsewhere. Interviewees Carlton Olson, Alice Rader Interviewer Mike Dicianna Website http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/oh150/birmingham/ PDF Created November 16, 2017 The Books for Birmingham Project, “Miles of Books for Miles!”, March 20, 2014 Page 2 of 11 Transcript Mike Dicianna: Okay today is March 20th 2014. We're here at the Oregon State University Valley Library to do an Oral History with alumni from the Books from Birmingham Project fifty years ago today. My name is Mike Dicianna, oral historian for the Oregon State Archives. In the room also is Marisa Chappell, Oregon State History Department and Chris Petersen, part of the Oregon State OH150 Project. And with group, you guys are a group, what I'd like to do is go ahead and let you guys introduce yourselves, rather than me being kind of formal about it. And I've given you some, you know a couple of little ideas but give you a chance to say hi Oregon State. Alice Rader: Hi Oregon State! Hi Beavers! I like the old Beaver with the nice smiley face, I don't like the angry Beaver, okay because I believe in peace and justice. MD: And your name? AR: And my name is Alice [Elle] back then but I aided the name Rader. I have a really cool husband, Mark Rader, yes. Carlton Olson: And I'm Carlton Olson. I went to college here for a long time, I was part of Books for Birmingham back in 64'. I'm from Corvallis and I lived here for a long time and I'm now in Portland. AR: He went to school here for twelve years. He loves studying. He loves OSU. MD: As do we all. Anyway let's talk a little bit about your time here at OSU. Where did you guys live, what kind of classes did you enjoy, social activities, some campus life stories? AR: Well I started out in Sackett C and that was like an army barracks. And I think I was actually on the third bucker up. I remember one time I was having a dream and I jumped out of my bed and "ow" did it hurt to land on my feet. So that was my memory as a freshman but I gradually got into Snell which was like cool. My favorite classes were Dr. Hovland's, Warren Hovland's religion classes and Carlton and I both took his classes. I absolutely loved his religion classes so I took every one of them. So that was my favorite memory there. I worked in the library here and I joined the Y. I just happened by it and it looked like an interesting place because it was young Christian... Christianity has been an important part of my upbringing and I felt comfortable to start hanging out there. Then I had no idea about civil rights and the civil rights movement but the people at the Y were looking at those issues and became involved. And so I kind of fell into this environment of the Books for Birmingham. But one of my claims to fame is that I played the clarinet and I got to go the Rose Bowl, I got to march in the Rose Bowl Parade. And Terry Baker got the Heisman Trophy Award so any time you'd see him on campus "that's him, that's him!" you know so that was like really exciting to go to the Rose Bowl back then. And then the most important thing I think that happened at Oregon State was actually the Books for Birmingham and going down south, that was absolutely... I've always thought the most pivotal experience in my life, in terms of social consciousness. CO: I took several of Dr. Hovland's grad classes so I did like them too. I'm from Corvallis so I went all through high school here and lived at home most of my life in Corvallis, except for the last few years when I didn't live at home. I've always been kind of active, I came from a family that was... my folks had a nursing home, so we were in... she had a lot of African wives working for her and so I was... early on I was around international students. At that time, most of the international students were Iranians and Africans so I could never hate them, no matter what they are trying to make us do in the world or in the country today. So I came from a background where I wasn't quite as narrow as some people could have been at the time. [0:05:06] It was the early sixties and before the sixties really got exciting, even here at Oregon State. I took a lot of courses, probably have the record number of undergraduate hours on campus. Not always that successful but I really enjoyed school and that's about it. [0:05:32] MD: Well the library then was known as the Kerr Library and it was brand new in 1964, this library here is 50 years old this year. It was a new innovative place, and I know that you worked there but what were some of your other memories of the library during your time here? Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University Libraries and Press PDF Created November 16, 2017 The Books for Birmingham Project, “Miles of Books for Miles!”, March 20, 2014 Page 3 of 11 AR: My memory was working here and the president, Waldron, he was a wonderful man... CO: Maybe the director? AR: The director of the library CO: Yeah, Rod Waldron. AR: And I just remember that when the last time I saw him he just said "you know life isn't fair" and that year two people had died. One woman worked in our center and then there was a woman coming and she had a car accident and didn't make it to work. And that's why he said to me life isn't fair but there have been many times in my life since then that I'll think of him and those words because I think they were very wise. CO: My best memories of this new library which isn't new anymore was the hours and hours in a reserved book room because, Marisa and I were talking about this the other day, one of my instructors did a lot of original material that he would have mimeographed and you know it would be on reserve, so we didn't have textbooks, we'd have to do all this original research and write papers every two weeks and it was probably one of the hardest courses I took but also one of the most enjoyable. It was colonial history and it's one of the few courses I took on American History because at that time Vietnam was getting pretty exciting and I pretty much shut down on what the US was doing so I was branching into third worlds. So I was... every course on Asia and Latin American and Africa, you know, were interesting to me. I broadened out. MD: Well what we're really here for today, other than hearing your stories about OSU is the Books for Birmingham Project. Its celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and I understand that today is the 50th anniversary of when you guys actually left to deliver the 14,000 books to Alabama. You know it's a huge story for this college and it really needs to have the story of the people who were there, which is kind of your memories of your involvement with the project and how did you get involved with the project. AR: I was involved because I belonged to the Y and I see that it began January 20th to February 2nd but it went beyond that. What I think was exciting that Dr. Pitts from Miles College, and Miles College is a black college near Birmingham, in Fairfield, Alabama. And they were very active in the Civil Rights Movement so "Bull" Connor was not happy with students who were getting students out and, you know, facing the hoses and the dogs. And that was also the time when the church was bombed and young children were killed in Birmingham.